Game Preview: Notre Dame Fighting Irish
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The Miami Hurricanes will head north to South Bend, IN to face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on November 7th, 2026 at 7:30pm on NBC/Peacock. The Hurricanes open the season with an over/under of 10.5 wins for the ’26 season. The Irish o/u is posted at 11.5.
CJ Carr returns behind center to lead the ND offense. Last season, Carr threw 24 TD’s, six INT’s and three TD’s on the ground. While Carr lost both of his star RB’s to the NFL, he does have two pass catchers returning in Jordan Faison and Jaden Greathouse. RB AneyasWilliams is back after averaging 9.3 yards per carry with five TD’s last year.
The Irish defense has a few big time stars. One is Leonard Moore. Moore, a cornerback, is the 3rd best returning player to CFB per On3. Last season Moore picked off five passes with seven PBU’s. BoubacarTraore returns with 10.5 TFL’s and 6.5 sacks a year ago.
The Doppler
PPG: Miami finished 32nd in points per game with 30, while ND was 2nd overall with 42 PPG. The Irish were also 1st in FBS in points per play.
3rd down offense: Miami’s offense was 21st in FBS with a 45% 3rd down conversion rate. ND was 12th at 48%.
4th down offense: Miami offense was 8th in FBS at 71%, while the Irish were 59th at 55%.
PPGA: Miami’s defense was 5th in FBS at 15.6 points per game allowed, including the playoff run. ND was 9th while allowing 17.6 PPG.
3rd down defense: Miami’s defense finished 14th in FBS allowing only 32% of 3rd downs to be converted. ND was 35th overall while allowing 35% to be picked up.
Turnover Margin: Miami finished 27th in turnover margin per game with +0.5, while ND was 4th with +1.1 in TOM/G.
Penalty yards per game: The Hurricanes were 89th with 57.5 PYPG while ND was 67th with 53.1.
Kicking: Miami has to replace kicker CarterDavis who made the game winning FG (2-of-2) against the Irish last season. The Irish have to replace Noah Burnette who made his lone FG attempt vs. the ‘Canes a year ago.
The Matchup
Where do the Hurricanes matchup against the Irish? This is a heavyweight title fight like in the days of Riddick Bowe and Evander Holyfield, Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin, or The Catholics vs. The Convicts. Two programs built on their offensive and defensive lines, that will force a run game and aren’t afraid to blitz.
If you remember the 27-24 ‘Canes win from 2025 (oh you do? me too) you’ll remember 60 runs, 60 passes, and four sacks between the squads. The ‘Canes sacked CJCarrthree times while CarsonBeck was sacked only once.
Two of Miami’s three sacks from a year ago have to be replaced, as well as all three PBU’s, RuebenBain’s INT, and four of five TFL’s. While Beck is now with the Arizona Cardinals of the NFL, both leading rushers for The U against ND return in MartyBrown (one TD) and MarkFletcherJr. (4.4 yards per carry). And of course star WR MalachiToney returns for Miami after an 82 yard one TD performance in ’25.
Notre Dame returns their lone sack, both TFL’s, and two of three PBU’s on their defense. They also return Carr who did throw two TD’s and rushed for another score on the ground.
Both squads will run the NCAA Offense, a mixture of 11personnel (one back, one tight end) as a base with Air Raid passing concepts. Miami is a heavy duo and wide zone run game while ND focuses on gap scheme runs and QB draws. Both teams will use multiple back and tight end sets on offense, and base out of a 4-2-5 on defense.
The Wrap
The teams will have traded a home and home back and forth from an August matchup in Miami to a November contest in South Bend. A steamy primetime game at Hard Rock will be replaced by a college football fall under Touchdown Jesus.
Miami will head to ND for their fourth game in a row, while the Irish will have an off week before playing Navy and then Miami. One benefit here to even the score for the ‘Canes is that the Irish have to face the flexbone offense, a 3-4 defense, and the Midshipmen cutting Notre Dame’s D-Line the week prior to hosting the ‘Canes.
Miami will face fairly standard college football teams in FSU, UNC and Pitt. All three defenses run 4-2-5’s, and all three offenses run some variation of the 11 personnel NCAA offense with Pitt being more pro style than FSU and UNC falling in the middle.
Game Prediction: Notre Dame by 3. This is going to come down to the same type of result as ’25, a field goal in a barn burner of a contest. I think this time Notre Dame comes out on top, being the home team and coming off of only one game after their off week vs. three.
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